I actually know how the EC works. Do you? If you do, you know that the election is more like the World Series than your 6th-grade run for student body president. Look at the World Series projection below:
- Phillies 2, Rays 4
- Phillies 10, Rays 3
- Phillies 12, Rays 2
- Phillies 3, Rays 6
- Phillies 7, Rays 3
- Phillies 2, Rays 5
- Phillies 3, Rays 4
Who won the series? The Rays, right? They won more games than the Phillies. The EC is the same thing. It doesn't matter how many runs you score over the whole series, nor does it matter what the popular vote is nation-wide. You have to win the right combination of states or games to win. In the EC, you need 270 votes to win. Idaho has 4; California has 55. The number of EC votes is determined by the number of senators the state has (2) and the number of members of the House of Representatives (at least one, but based on population). Makes sense, right? But you already knew that.
4 comments:
Oh my heck! Like go fight win!
Okay, so, like Utah has 5 EC votes. Don't all of our go to whomever has the popular vote. Like, let's pretend that McCain only gets 55% of Utah's popular vote and Obama gets 45% (I know, I know it will really be like 98%/2% here, but work with me). Will McCain get all 5 ECs or will he get like 2.66?
Some states split, most don't.
Good questions, all. Yes Amy, all 5 of Utah's EC votes will go to McCain. Every map I have seen is colored red. But Bill and Tammie are also correct because Colorado and Maine "split" their EC votes. When the votes are split, the winner of the popular election gets 2 automatically (the 2 represented by the senate) and the other votes are split by who wins that congressional district. Let's pretend Utah splits its votes: it has three congressional districts with three members of the house. Let's say:
Dist 1: Obama wins 200 votes to McCains 129
Dist 2: McCain wins 500 votes to Obama's 321
Dist 3: Obama wins 21 votes to McCains 20
McCain wins the popular vote in the state and gets 3 EC votes; Obama wins 2 districts and gets 2 EC votes.
Clear??
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